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"The popular perception that the international community has eliminated sea piracy is far from true," wrote Gal Luft and Anne Korin in Foreign Affairs (November-December). "Not only has piracy never been eradicated, but the number of pirate attacks on ships has also tripled in the past decade." More worrying still, "many of today's pirates are maritime terrorists." Given that "most of the world's oil and gas is shifted through the world's most piracy-infested waters", we should be worried.

"Intelligence agencies estimate that al-Qaida and its affiliates now own dozens of phantom ships - hijacked vessels that have been repainted." It gets worse: "Ominously, there have been cases of terrorist pirates hijacking tankers in order to practise steering them through straits and crowded sea-lanes." Could this be "the maritime equivalent of the September 11 hijackers training Florida flight schools"?

Luft and Korin offered a range of counter-measures, including better armed crews, to improve the security of the seaways. However, the risk can also be reduced "by replacing imported energy with next-generation energy derived from domestic ... resources. Such a shift would increase energy independence for the free world and minimise the need to transport oil across the globe - thus reducing the world's vulnerability to a catastrophic disruption of its energy supply by terrorists at sea."

Tarzan, Elvis and all that

A novel that combines Tarzan and Elvis Presley in a New Zealand jungle has sparked something of a - in this context the cliche can be excused - David and Goliath battle.

"A New Zealand publishing company is up against complicated copyright law for using the fictional hero in a critically acclaimed novel," explained Tom Cardy in the Dominion Post (December 2). "Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc, the estate of Tarzan's creator, has demanded that Victoria University Press (VUP) stop selling copies of the humor ous novel Tarzan Presley." The book, by New Zealander Nigel Cox, tells the story of "Presley 'raised by gorillas in the wild jungles of New Zealand, scarred in battles with vicious giant wetas, seduced by a beautiful young scientist' who gets a record deal with Elvis Presley's producer and has 30 No 1 hits."

VUP received a letter from lawyers representing the Burroughs' estate claiming the novel "infringes their intellectual property rights, including the name Tarzan and other aspects of the man-raised-by-apes character." A spokesman for VUP said Burroughs' estate would be satisfied with it selling the remaining first edition copies, as long as none were sold outside New Zealand. It will also allow the book to be republished if the name Tarzan is removed, the story changed to make it less like Tarzan's story, and it is not sold overseas. But if VUP does not agree, the message is: "We'll sue you."

Wanted: a nice Jewish boy

The website JDate bills itself as "the largest Jewish singles network" with 600,000 members. Now an increasing number of non-Jews are signing up, reported Sarah E Richards, who admitted being one of them, in the New York Times (December 5).

It is difficult to know how many non-Jews are joining, because the 50,000 JDate members who "identify themselves as religiously 'unaffiliated'" include Jews who want to conceal their own preferences within Judaism. "But interviews with people who use JDate suggest gentiles have become an increasingly visible presence ... on a site that was designed to promote mating within a tribe."

The reasons non-Jews become JDate members vary. However, many seem drawn to the stereotype of a nice Jewish boy or girl. Not all Jewish members are happy about the situation, but David Siminoff of MatchNet, the parent company of JDate, said the site would not change its unrestricted policy even though it was "clearly orientated toward Jews". The company is "considering adding a 'willing to convert' option in the religion category", he added.